Joshua Kraft

Joshua Kraft (born April 11, 1967) is an American nonprofit executive who is the head of Kraft Family Philanthropies and board chairman of the National Urban League's Eastern Massachusetts chapter. Kraft previously worked for twelve years as CEO of the Boys & Girls Club's Boston chapter. Kraft is a son of Robert Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots NFL team.

In the early 1990s, Kraft began working at the Boys & Girls Club of Boston. From 2008 until 2020, he headed the organization as its chief executive officer. In 2020, he became the head of Kraft Family Charities. In 2024, Kraft additionally became the board chairman of the Eastern Massachusetts chapter of the National Urban League. Kraft is running for mayor of Boston in 2025.

Family and education

Kraft is the third-born of four boys. His brothers are Jonathan, Daniel, and David. His parents are Robert Kraft and the late Myra Kraft. Myra died of ovarian cancer in July 2011. The Kraft family are Jewish. Kraft's father is a billionaire, being the CEO of the Kraft Group and owner of the New England Patriots of the National Football League. Josh is believed to be one of the future heirs of his father's fortune. In a 2008 profile, Mary Moore of ''Boston Business Journal'' idiomatically described his upbringing as having included "silver-spoon comforts" by virtue of his family wealth.

Kraft attended high school at the Rivers School, graduating in 1985. Kraft received his bachelor's degree from Williams College, graduating in 1989. He received his master's degree in education and social policy from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Nonprofit management career

Kraft has had an extensive career as an executive at nonprofit organizations. Kraft is considered a well-recognized figure in the city of Boston, both due to his work at nonprofits and his status as a scion of a wealthy and high-profile family.

Boys & Girls Club of Boston

Kraft spent 30 years working at the Boys & Girls Club of Boston. It has been varyingly reported that he either began as head of the organization's South Boston youth outreach program, or that he began in 1990 as the program coordinator at what is today known as the Edgerley Family South Boston Club. In 1993, Kraft established the organization's branch in Chelsea, Massachusetts (the Jordan Boys & Girls Club) and was that branch's executive director until 2008. In a 2008 profile written after Kraft was elevated to an executive position at Boys & Girls Club of Boston, Mary Moore of ''Boston Business Journal'' idiomatically described Kraft as having "traded silver-spoon comforts for passion and street savvy" in his work with this branch of the Boys & Girls Club, and as having "earned him both popularity and respect" from members of the branch. She also described him as, "the rare nonprofit leader whose raw enthusiasm for the organization’s mission comes from so many years spent at its grassroots level."

Kraft became president and chief operating officer (CEO) of the Boys & Girls Club of Boston in July 2008, a role he held for twelve years. As CEO, he led a $132 million fundraising campaign. He stepped down as head of the organization in 2020.

Kraft Family Philanthropies

After leaving the Boys & Girls Club of Boston, Kraft became the head of Kraft Family Philanthropies. The organization consists of several primary subsidiaries: the Kraft Family Foundation, the Patriots Foundation (team charity of New England Patriots NFL team owned by his father), the Revolution Foundation (the team charity of the New England Revolution MLS team owned by his father), the Kraft Center for Community Health, and the Foundation to Combat Anti-Semitism. The organization also manages the Kraft family's involvement in the Reform Alliance. In this role, he regularly distributes millions of dollars of his family's wealth annually to various causes.

Kraft partnered the organization with the Massachusetts Military Support Foundation to provide meals to veterans and their families.

National Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts

In February 2024, Kraft was appointed by the board of the National Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts to be its chairman, with Kraft succeeding outgoing chairman Joseph Feaster Jr. Kraft had been in active consideration by the board for the position over several preceding months before being officially chosen.

Other work

During the governorships of Charlie Baker and Maura Healey, Kraft was co-chair of the governor's task force on hate crimes.

Kraft is on the board of overseers of Lasell University. In 2018, Kraft was elected to the board of trustees of Brandeis University.

Kraft also is on the board of trustees for Brigham and Women's Hospital. He is also on the boards of Beaver Country Day School, Camp Harbor View Foundation, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Foundation, Rivers School, and the Museum of Science.

As of 2023, Kraft was teaching a course at Suffolk University on nonprofit management.

Politics

Political donations

In 2021, Kraft gave $150,000 to Democratic Majority for Israel.

At the federal level, Kraft has given sizable personal donations to House and Senate candidates from both the Democratic and Republican parties.

Kraft donated to the political campaign operation of former Massachusetts governor Charlie Baker (a Republican). Kraft has also given to several Democrats in Massachusetts. Massachusetts Democrats that Kraft has given campaign contributions to have included state attorney general Andrea Campbell, state senator Christopher Worrell, and Suffolk County district attorney Kevin Hayden.

Ahead of the 2021 Boston mayoral election, Kraft gave $1,000 to the campaign of Michelle Wu. During the 2023 Boston City Council election, Kraft donated to a slate of candidates that had been prominently backed by New Balance CEO, major Republican donor, and Trump supporter Jim Davis. This slate of candidates were running as challengers to candidates supported by Wu. This was unsuccessful, as all of the candidates that Wu had endorsed won election.

2025 Boston mayoral campaign

After Charlie Baker declined to seek reelection in 2022, Kraft was seen as a potential candidate for governor. There was also speculation that Kraft might challenge incumbent U.S. congresswoman Ayanna Pressley in the 2024 Democratic primary for Massachusetts's 7th congressional district. Kraft is believed to be more politically centrist than Pressley. However, Kraft denied having an interest in running for the congressional seat. Kraft publicly expressed an openness to running for political office. Kraft for years was seen as a possible candidate to challenge incumbent mayor Michelle Wu in the 2025 Boston mayoral election.

On February 4, 2025, Kraft launched his campaign to become mayor of Boston. During his speech where he announced his candidacy, he heavily criticized Michelle Wu, saying that she had not fulfilled campaign promises to make the MBTA free for residents of Boston, enact rent control and implement a municipal Green New Deal in the Boston Public Schools system.

Kraft has touted reducing traffic as a part of his campaign, including advertising stating "Josh Kraft will reduce traffic... Wu Won't." Critics however accuse Kraft of a pattern of hypocrisy, noting that on May 29, 2025, a truck bearing this advertisement was photographed on South Street in Boston, illegally parked and partially blocking a bicycle lane and crosswalk; and on June 12, 2025, a similar truck was photographed illegally blocking a bicycle lane in a "no stopping" zone on the Congress Street bridge near the Boston Children's Museum.

Personal life

Up until at least 2023, Kraft lived in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. In 2023, a limited liability company purchased a $2 million condo in the North End neighborhood of Boston where Kraft lives with his partner Michelle Perez Vichot. He is divorced and has two adult daughters.

In 2023, Kraft revealed that he had been diagnosed with and treated for prostate cancer in 2018. He mentioned that it had been detected early, and that he was currently testing at levels that indicate his cancer is essentially gone.

Awards and honors received

*Williams College "Bicentennial Medal" (2010)
*Rivers School "Alumni Excellence Award" (2014)
*Greater Boston PFLAG "Cornerstone of Equality Award" (2017)
*The Salvation Army Massachusetts Division "Others Award" (2022)

Kraft was the commencement speaker at Nichols College's spring 2023 commencement ceremony, where he was given a honorary doctorate in Humane Letters. The Boys & Girls Club of Boston has named one of its facilities the "Josh Kraft Mattapan Teen Center".

In 2023, ''Boston'' magazine ranked Kraft and his brothers Daniel and Jonathan at number 11 on its annual list of the "most influential Bostonians", grouping these three Kraft brothers as a single entity. In 2024, the magazine included Kraft and his brother Jonathan as separate entries the list, ranking Josh Kraft at No. 68 and Jonathan Kraft at No. 10. In 2025, Josh Kraft was ranked at No. 37 on the list, and his brother Jonathan was ranked at No. 12.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kraft, Josh
Kraft family
Philanthropists from Massachusetts
Harvard Graduate School of Education alumni
Williams College alumni
Rivers School alumni
1960s births
Living people
Jews from Massachusetts